I’m not asking for advice or alternatives here just having a bit of a moan and I wonder if anyone else feels the same?

First of all I’ve got to say that I love going and working hard in the gym, I love getting home afterwards and eating all the food I can stomach and I love the feeling that I’m getting closer to my goals.

For me though the really hard work is not in the gym but all of the time I’m out of it, It’s the constant eating, the constant feeling that I’m about to explode, the thousands and thousands of calories I’m forcing down every day. All my waking hours seem to revolve around eating: what the next meals going to be, where I’m going to get food from… another can of tuna… another bowl of pasta… another bag of nuts… ad infinitum. Feeling guilty that if I go to watch the football or out with my mates that, heaven forbid, I might miss a meal!

i feel the same way. i cant down too much food at one time anymore, a result of eating numerous times a day. plus, i eat at a chow hall in iraq, and the food there is just making me sick. it got so bad there for a while i was substituting MRE's (Meals, Ready to Eat) for chow. (if any of you have ever had MRE's, you know how desperate I was).

Sometimes I'll just skip the meal at the chow hall and have a meal supplement shake. the ones i take are about 800 calories, 50 gram protein, and 70 grams carbs.

I imagine when I get home and I can eat stuff that actually tastes good it'll be different for a while.

Hey I had some pretty good MRE's when I was in the army. Ha Ha well I was the kid in school who loved all the food when everyone else was like eewwwww. I hear you dave the best part about getting big is knowing that every meal you eat every bite you take is getting you closer to that ultimate goal of being huge. I made some pretty impressive gains when I first started lifting NOT ALL MUSCLE but they were awesome. I was on a 6,000 calorie diet lifting three times a week and I gained 25 lbs the first month. It has been a lot slower since then but now I'm kinda looking to tone it down a bit while building muscle. Obviously that will be a lot slower but its awesome. awesome awesome awesome. Whats your numbers like now? How much have you gained how tall all that?

I’ve tried training several times in the past but was always too fond of booze and late nights for it really to work. I’ve grown up a bit now though (I’m now 25) and have cut a lot of that out: stopped going to the pub and missing meals and stopped getting wrecked on the weekends. Since Christmas I’ve put serious organised effort into eating and training and have gone from a rather gaunt 145 lbs to around 165 lbs and have noticeably more muscle. My initial goal was 168 lbs (12 St.) but now I’m close to that I just want to keep going.
I think I manage to eat about 3500 – 4000 calories a day, I’d really like to get more calories than this but like I said I find very hard! I also wonder how long this honeymoon period of fast gains will last.

Well whats your workout plan look like? I maid(MADEhaha) some huge gains weight wise not all lean muscle mind you and it was some of the simplest workouts and I blew up. Post what your workout consists of and I'll see if i can give ya some weight gaining advice. Put it this way I weigh anywhere between 209-212 i originally weighed 160 before i serisously started lifting. I gained a first month total of 25 lbs. Weight gain was important to me so I didn't care about some pudge its weight right? Eat eat eat. Thats what I say. Let me know your schedule see if we can get you ginormous. haha

Actually, Dave, I remember the recommendation, and I think you cranked it up way too much unless your using some light days in there for the squats and Deads. here is the original recommendation
"A plan I've seen used way back in the day that focused on upper body looked something like this:
Day 1
Squat 5x5, + 1 hypertrophy set X 10-12 w/less wt
BP- same as squat
Row - same as squat
Hypers or GM's or SLDL/RDL 2-3 x1-12
Note: The 5x5 or 5x6 is done as follows (many variations out there). Start w/ a 50% wt x 5/6 as a warm up, and 1-2 more progressively heavier w.u sets, then 2 (maybe 3, but I don't think they're necessary) top weight worksets of 4-6 reps.

Day 5
Deadlift 5x5-Note this could be anywhere from 4-6 sets depending on your top weight. Might want to stop at one top work set of 3-5 reps, NO down set on this one.
Chins 3-5 X AMRAP, when you can get over 8-10, strap on some weight
Incline Bench 5x5 + 1 "hypertrophy set" x 10-12 w/ less wt
Split squats or lunge2-3 x 8-10 ea leg

Day 6 and 7 rest
End
Notice your only Deadlifting heavy and squatting heavy 1X week in this one. Less is sometimes more when trying to gain weight.
Tim

Ah, Tim, you've caught me out... Thing is that I love the squats and the deadlifts and so started doing more of them, if you're saying it's too much though I'll take the point and cut back to what you say. It can be very difficult sometimes to have the discipline no to become over eager...